NBC's Lauer Impatiently Wonders: 'What Is It Going to Take' for Gay Athletes to Come Out?

Leading a panel discussion on Tuesday's NBC Today about the possibility of a professional athlete coming out as gay, frustrated co-host Matt Lauer implored: "It's
interesting that in 2013, with attitudes towards homosexuality changing
so dramatically in this country, there isn't a single major athlete in a
major professional sport playing right now who has come out and said,
'I'm gay.' Why is that?...What is it going to take to change that and
have someone come out and say it?" [Listen to the audio]

Lauer made the same plea on Friday,
lamenting that the unwillingness of athletes to announce their
sexuality to world "says something about the times we're living in."

In response to Lauer on Tuesday, chief medical editor Nancy Snyderman
noted "there are whispers" of gay athletes, while advertising executive
Donny Deutsch touted: "And statistically it's been said that 10% of
professional athletes are gay, just like 10% of the population is gay."

Deutsch hoped for "Just one brave person" to come out, prompting Lauer
to wonder: "If one recognizable, high-profile, major sports athlete
comes out and says, 'I'm gay,' do you think the floodgates open? You
think all kinds of people come out?"

Wrapping up the discussion, Snyderman explained: "I know a couple of
documentary film makers who have been for the last twelve years, been
trying to do a documentary about just this thing. And one by one, people
will talk about it, but they're not going to come forward for now."

Here is a full transcript of the April 9 exchange:

8:19AM ET

MATT LAUER: This next one comes as kind of a footnote to a story we
covered last week, Magic Johnson with that emotional interview on TMZ
about his son who was gay and how much he loves him. We started talking
around here and we talked about Magic as this incredible athlete. We
said, but you know, it's interesting that in 2013, with attitudes
towards homosexuality changing so dramatically in this country, there
isn't a single major athlete in a major professional sport playing right
now who has come out and said, "I'm gay."

NANCY SNYDERMAN: No, there are whispers.

LAUER: Why is that?

DONNY DEUTSCH: And statistically it's been said that 10% of
professional athletes are gay, just like 10% of the population is gay.

LAUER: What is it going to take to change that and have someone come out and say it?

DEUTSCH: Just one brave person. And it's very interesting, I have a
lot of gay friends, and some who play professional – play college
sports. And we talked about it, and we said, if all of a sudden you're
in a locker room and you're naked together, it's like, gay guys don't
look at it that way, where all of a sudden they're going to be looking
at straight guys. It's so ridiculous, it's gonna take one guy to change,
just like every piece of math there is.

SNYDERMAN: There are some sports-

STAR JONES: And it's not like a gay guy has not been looking at you in the locker room already, because the-

LAUER: No, no, no. But I – see, I don't think that's the part of it-

DEUTSCH: No, no, their answer is always it's going to be destructive
to the team, destructive to the locker room, and it's just not true.
Every athlete I talked to, professional athlete, says that's ridiculous.

LAUER: You said it will take one brave athlete. If one recognizable,
high-profile, major sports athlete comes out and says, "I'm gay," do you
think the floodgates open? You think all kinds of people come out?

DEUTSCH: I do, but-

JONES: Not right away.

DEUTSCH: One reason they don't do it, they say they don't want it to
be a distraction to the team. But I don't think right away. But I think
also this country right now is so progressive on all gay issues, that
the door is wide-open.

JONES: Yeah, but you know what? Inside-

SNYDERMAN: But I think the NFL is a whole different ball game.

JONES: But inside of a sports environment, people use whatever they
perceive as your vulnerabilities against you in a competition. People
say things in the huddle, they make racist comments that otherwise we'd
be all upset about. They make – and they'll make homosexual-

SNYDERMAN: I know a couple of documentary film makers who have been
for the last twelve years, been trying to do a documentary about just
this thing. And one by one, people will talk about it, but they're not
going to come forward for now.

-- Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow Kyle Drennen on Twitter.

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